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If Shane Warne had a slowish start to his career, Glenn McGrath began moderately, picking up six wickets in a series against New Zealand at more than 40 apiece. However, with Craig McDermott retiring from international cricket due to injuries, McGrath stepped into his big boots with consummate ease, and for more than a decade after that troubled the batsmen world over with his unerring accuracy and bounce from good length areas.

It was his simple approach to the wicket, and a high arm action that helped McGrath derive the maximum anyone could, and also prevented him from having any serious injuries throughout his career, something that all fast bowlers face in their careers. However, McGrath’s greatness is not just restricted to his tally of wickets or the measly average, but his ability to psyche out opponents by targeting opposition batsmen before the match and following his words to the exact tee!

Michael Artherton can be safely named as the McGrath’s bunny, having been dismissed 19 times by the lanky fast bowler, however, as McGrath’s bowling averages of 21 and 22 in Tests and ODIs respectively show, not many batsmen world over have been able to collar the bowler on too many occasions. Small measure then, he has scalped a total of 944 international wickets. He ended his Test career as the third highest Test wicket-taker, but has been over taken since.

McGrath was then a regular feature in the Delhi setup and represented the franchise for the first three editions, starting 2008.

Fast Facts

Glenn McGrath was Australia’s Test as well as ODI Player of the Year in 2000 and 2001 respectively.